A song penned as a legacy to a much loved cousin who died in a tragic Teesside fishing accident will raise funds for the RNLI.

Brett Ramshaw composed Shining Tonight in memory of his cousin Lee Renney, who died on September 2 while on a family fishing trip in Hartlepool.

Lee, 22, fell into the water after his foot became tangled in a rope and despite swift intervention from Hartlepool RNLI, the Air Ambulance, Coastguard, Police and medical teams, he couldn’t be saved.

Brett decided to create the song as a legacy for Lee and has now uploaded it onto YouTube, with a direct link to donate to the RNLI.

He said: “I wanted to write something true to Lee and to ensure he would always be remembered. The song took about three days to compose but this was spread out over the course of a week, as it was difficult to relive what had happened each time. I had to force myself to complete it.

“The whole family is devastated after losing Lee but when his brother Michael shared the song with them, there were tears all around and they told me it was beautiful. I was so relieved as I wanted it to be something they could use to feel closer to him.”

Fishing accident victim Lee Renney (Image: RNLI)

Brett, 33, who works for Virgin Media, performs Shining Tonight with Kyle Cullen, who is also Lee’s cousin. The poignant song contains the lines: “Your life is your light, so make sure you’re living it right. You look over your shoulder, one day it’ll be over, so make sure you’re shining tonight.”

It also includes heartfelt lines about when Lee’s family found out about losing him and words about what he still means to them.

Brett added: ‘Lee was very family orientated and loving and was always seen with a cheeky smile on his face. He was a genuine free spirit growing up and loved being outdoors. He didn’t feel the cold, it could be the middle of winter and he’d still rock up in a tee-shirt. I will treasure the holidays we had together growing up and each Christmas I spent with him and his brother Michael.

“As a fisherman, Lee knew how vital the RNLI was and the whole family can’t thank the charity enough for their determined efforts in trying to save his life. The volunteer crew from Hartlepool RNLI will always have a special place in our hearts because they cared so much and did all that was humanly possible. We are also hugely grateful to all the other agencies that joined the rescue.”

Brett Ramshaw and Kyle Cullen (Image: RNLI)

And urging people to support the RNLI, he added: “It will give our family great comfort to know that Lee will live on through the song and that his life wasn’t in vain. If people are inspired to donate, that would mean the world too.”

Mike Craddy, Hartlepool RNLI’s volunteer lifeboat operations manager, said: “At what is still such a difficult time for Lee’s family, for them to support us in this way is incredibly humbling.”